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THE MASSACRE 



NEAR 



Old Tappan 



THE MASSACRE 



NEAR 



Old Tappan 



WILLIAM S. STRYKER, 

ADJUTANT GENERAL OF NEW JERSEY. 



Read before the New Jersey Historical Society, at 
THEIR Meeting at Trenton, January 23, 1879. 



PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. 



TBENTON, N. J. : 
NAAR, DAY & NAAR, BOOK AND JOB PKINTERS. 

1882. 



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The Massacre near Old Tappan. 



The year seventeen hundred and seventy-eight of the 
Revolutionary period is not only memorable on account of 
the terrible sufferings of the Continental Army at Valley 
Forge and the hot fight on the field of Monmouth, but for 
three brutal massacres perpetrated in three of the middle 
colonies. 

On the third day of July, a band of Tories and Indians 
murdered the inhabitants of the peaceful valley of Wyo- 
ming, and committed such dreadful outrages upon Penn- 
sylvania homes as to arouse the indignation and revenge of 
her citizens. On the eleventh day of November, a party of 
a similar character, headed by the notorious Joseph Brant, 
having killed the officer in command of the little fort at 
Cherry Valley, New York, massacred indiscriminately the 
men, women and children of that little hamlet. The third 
instance we propose to narrate more in detail. It occurred 
on the twenty-eighth day of September, on the soil of New 
Jersey, but near Tappan village, New York, a place after- 
ward so noted for the confinement and execution of Major 
Andre. 

The British Commander, Sir Henry Clinton, having just 
returned from the Bedford expedition, resolved to send 
some of his force along the lower Jersey coast to capture, if 
possible, some of the American privateers, to retake some 
of the prizes, and to destroy the grain mills and salt works 
of that district. 
, To divert attention from this predatory expedition, as 



4 The Massacre near Old Tappan. 

well as to procure fresh supplies of meat and forage for the 
array, Lord Cornwallis, with five thousand men, was or- 
dered to pass over the Hudson river into Bergen county, 
New Jersey, that rich land belonging to Dutch farmers so 
frequently pillaged by the British. 

With Cornwallis was sent Major General Sir Charles Grey, 
who before this had executed the orders of Clinton in steal- 
ing or destroying provisions, military and naval stores and 
vessels, and levying heavy contributions on the villages of 
Fairhaven, Bedford and Martha's Vineyard. 

The German General Knyphausen was also ordered to 
march with three thousand men to Dobb's Ferry, on the 
east bank of the Hudson River, and to collect a large num- 
ber of boats there, so that within a few hours he could rein- 
force Cornwallis, if it was found important, or Cornwallis 
could be brought over the river to his support, if he found 
himself in danger. 

General Washington had, at this time, just left White 
Plains with his division of the American Army, had crossed 
the river and had encamped at Fredericksburg, then a pre- 
cinct of what is now a large portion of the county of Put- 
nam. His quarters were at Patterson in that count}', a vil- 
lage almost due east from West Point. 

It appeared to the American Chieftain, by the movements 
of the two columns of the enemy, tiiat an expedition up the 
Hudson River was intended, and he ordered Colonel George 
Baylor, with the Third Regiment Light Dragoons of Vir- 
ginia, to move from their station at Paramus, a small ham- 
let on Saddle River, about six miles northwest from Hack- 
ensack, and post themselves on the Hackensack River to 
watch the movements northward of the force under Lord 
Cornwallis. Colonel Baylor had up to this time proved 



The Massacre near Old Tappan. * 5 

himself a very gallant officer. In the campaign of 1776 he 
had been a member of Washington's own military family, 
being his personal aide-de-camp. At the battle of Trenton 
he was the first to report the surrender of the routed Hes- 
sian force, and for his valor that day he had had the honor 
of being the bearer of the despatches of December 27, 1776, 
to Congress, then in session at Baltimore, and of presenting 
a captured Hessian standard to that body. Congress, on 
receiving them, voted him a horse properly caparisoned, and 
recommended him to be promoted to the command of a 
regiment of light horse, which promotion had been con- 
ferred upon him. 

It was just at twilight, September 27th, 1778, when Colo- 
nel Baylor and his troopers came to the little stream of the 
Hackensack, somewhat over three miles southwest from 
Tappan village. Here he learned that Brigadier General 
Anthony Wayne was but a short distance north of Tappan 
with a body of militia. So fearing, perhaps, the superior 
rank of Wayne, and not wishing to lose his detached auth- 
ority, he halted his men on the Overkill Neighborhood 
Road, and quartered his dragoons in the barns of the thrifty 
farmers. His force consisted of twelve officers and one hun- 
dred and four enlisted men. Colonel Baylor, with his regi- 
mental staff officers, knocked at the farm-house of Cornelius 
A. Haring, and his son Ralph, who had just been married, 
opened the door for them. They told Mr. Haring of their 
desire to spend the night there, and he received them will- 
ingly, although he informed them that he understood the 
British were lying at New Bridge and might at any time 
come upon them. Colonel Baylor did not appear alarmed 
at this statement, but after seeing that his men were well 
provided for and after posting a guard of a sergeant and 



6 The Massacre near Old Tappan. 

twelve men at the bridge over the Hackensack, about one- 
half a mile south of Mr. Haring's house, with strict orders 
to keep a patrol of two men on each road to watch them a 
mile below and to be relieved every hour, he retired to sleep 
in fancied security. This house was torn down about sixty 
years ago, but the property is still in possession of Corne- 
lius R. Haring, a grandson of the Revolutionary owner. It 
is now within the bounds of the post village of Rivervale^ 
Washington township, Bergen county. 

Lord Cornwallis at this time had his division posted on 
the Hackensack River at Liberty Pole and New Bridge, 
about three miles from Hackensack and nine miles from 
Colonel Baylor's outguards. Full particulars of Baylor's 
position at Paramus, of his movements to the Hackensack 
River, and now of his unsoldierly condition and insecure 
post, had been given by some of the disaffected people in 
the neighborhood to Cornwallis, and he formed a plan to 
surprise and capture the regiment, as well as make a simul- 
taneous attack by Knyphausen's men upon General Wayne 
and his militia force. There were two roads which led from 
the camp of Cornwallis to Overkill Neighborhood, one on 
each side of the Hackensack River. 

As soon as General Knyphausen at Dobb's Ferry had 
heard from Lord Cornwallis of Colonel Baylor's position, 
he ordered a detachment under command of Lieutenant 
Colonel Archibald Campbell, commanding officer of the 
Seventy-first or Highland Regiment, with his own regi- 
ment and with the Queen's Rangers, Lieutenant Colonel J. 
Graves Simcoe commanding, to cross the river immediately 
and attack General Wayne's militia near Tappan. The 
boats were manned after some delay, and the party began 
the passage of the river just below the Tappan Zee. 



The Massacre near Old Tappan. 7 

To Major General Grey, the famous marauder, was as- 
signed the duty of attacking the sleeping Baylor. He had 
acquired the name of "no flint General," from his habit of 
ordering his troops to take the flint from their guns so as to 
make them depend solely on the use of the bayonet. He 
was just the man, then, for this bloody work. 

The troops ordered on duty were the twelve companies of 
the Second Battalion Light Infantry to lead the column, 
with the Second Regiment of Grenadiers, the Thirty-third 
and Sixty-fourth Regiments of the British line as a sup- 
porting force. 

The troops just before midnight, September 27th, marched 
on the road on the west bank of the Hackensack River 
silently and in perfect order until they arrived within half 
a mile of the patrol on that road. 

Here they halted, and, guided by some Tories who knew 
the ground, a party of picked men from six of the compa- 
nies of the Second Battalion Light Infantry, under the 
command of Major the Hon. John Maitland, of the Seventy- 
first Regiment, made a detour to the left through the fields 
and then passed to the rear of the sergeant's guard at the 
bridge and the patrol on the river road, and without the 
slightest difficulty made them prisoners. One, at least, of 
the sentries, however, escaped. 

This being accomplished without any noise or alarm, the 
force under General Grey pushed on toward Old Tappan. 
Major Turner Straubenzee, of the Seventeenth Regiment of 
Foot, but now detached in command of the other six com- 
panies of the Second Battalion Light Infantry, was in the 
advance, and it was this party which first arrived at Bay- 
lor's quarters, and surrounded the house and barn of Cor- 
nelius A. Haring. 



8 The Massacre near Old Tappan. 

It was now, as stated in British accounts, between one 
and two o'clock in the morning of September 28th, when 
they came up to the post of the sleeping American dragoons. 

The sentinel who had escaped from the sergeant's guard 
at the bridge awoke Ralph Haring, who aroused his father, 
Mr. Haring, half-dressed, and with a candle, came to the 
front door just as it was burst in, and under tl^e orders of 
General Grey to "show no quarter to the rebels," the brutal 
and profane soldiery rushed in to bayonet the inmates. 
Colonel Baylor was aroused by the noise and by the in- 
quiries made for him, and he and Major Alexander Clough 
tried to conceal themselves up the large Dutch chimney 
in the house. Both, however, were soon discovered and 
brought down severely wounded, their blood running over 
the floor. Colonel Baylor received three severe stabs. 
Major Clough soon after died from the terrible bayonet 
thrusts. Cornet Robert Morrow, Adjutant of the troop, also 
received seven wounds, and, after having surrendered, begged 
for his life, but quarter was refused ; he was stabbed again 
and stripped of his clothing. Dr. Thomas Evans, the Sur- 
geon's Mate, was also wounded, but carried off a prisoner. 

Leaving the house, they also burst open the door of the 
barn and freely used the bayonet there. Lieutenant John 
Stith had his company in the barn, and finding they were 
surrounded he called out that they surrendered, but he was 
then inhumanly struck on the head with a sword, which 
knocked him to the floor. Recovering himself, he made a 
desperate eff'ort, and with some of his men escaped from the 
barn, jumped the fence and plunged into a dense thicket 
near by. 

While this was being done, the supporting column of 
General Grey's forces. Major Maitland's party having re- 



The Massacre near Old Tappan. 9 

joined them, came up, and the}' also took part in the affair. 
Other houses and barns in the neighborhood, owned by the 
Blauvelts, the Demarests, Holdrums, Harings and Bogarts, 
were visited and scenes of like character enacted. The 
cries for mercy of the defenceless soldiers were answered 
only by acts of savage cruelty. Thomas Talley, of the 
Sixth troop, received six wounds in his breast and was 
stripped of his clothing. Private Benson, of the Second 
troop, had twelve bayonet wounds inflicted under the dis- 
tinct orders given by the British officer to "stab all and 
take no prisoners." Private Southward, of the Fifth troop, 
although he himself escaped, saw five of his company bay- 
onetted to death after they had surrendered. Private Cul- 
lency, of the First troop, received twelve wounds and saw 
wounded men knocked in the head with clubbed guns. 
The dragoons, surprised, incapable of successful defence, 
with no prospect of inflicting injury on their foe, could 
only sue for pity. But the bayonet was still at its bloody 
work, and thrust after thrust was given whenever any sign 
of life appeared. 

Lieutenant William Barret succeeded in escaping. Cap- 
tain John Swan, Lieutenant Robert Randolph and Cornets 
William Parsons, Francis Dade and Chiswell Barret were 
taken prisoners. Cornet Perigrine Fitzhugh was killed. 
Adjutant Robert Morrow, badly wounded, was left in a barn 
for dead, but next morning was carried away by Lieutenant 
John Stith and a party of the escaped men of Baylor's Reg- 
iment. 

A part of Sir James Baird's compan}' surrounded a barn 
in which" sixteen dragoons were sleeping, who fired about a 
dozen pistols, killed an enlisted man of the British Second 
Battalion, and then struck at their foe with their broad- 



10 The Massacre near Old Tappan. 

swords. Nine of the dragoons were baj'^onetted and seven 
were taken prisoners. 

The Fourth troop of Baylor's Regiment, although taken 
prisoners, were the only ones uninjured, because of the 
humane disobedience of orders by a.British Captain. 

The result of this slaughter was that out of the one hun- 
dred and sixteen men of the regiment, eleven were instantly 
bayonetted to death, seventeen left behind covered with 
bayonet wounds and expected to die, and thirty-nine were 
taken prisoners, eight of whom were severely wounded- 
The rest of the troopers escaped in the darkness. All the 
arms and seventy horses were part of the booty captured. 

Nothing can be said in defence of the conduct of Colonel 
Baylor. He had been one of the party which twenty-one 
months previous had proven to the Hessian Rail that in 
war it is dangerous to undervalue your enemy ; that it is 
unwise when in the vicinity of your foe to throw out a 
weak guard and leave the flanks unprotected. 

Forgetting the surprise and fate of the German soldier, 
he acted himself in the same careless and unsoldierly man- 
ner, and came near paying the same penalty for his folly. 
His conduct in this affair must be fully condemned. 

General Grey's force remained in that vicinity until day- 
light, when they marched to Tappan with their prisoners, 
turning the old church there into a hospital and a prison. 

While all this was going on, Lieutenant Colonel Camp- 
bell was marching from Sneden's Landing, on the Hudson 
River, by a direct road towards Tappan villiage, having 
been delayed by the tedious passage of the river. But he 
found that Wayne's militia, having heard of his approach 
at the critical moment, from a deserter, had quietly retreated, 
and his expedition was thus rendered fruitless. 



The Massacre near Old Tappan. 11 

A strong feeling of indignation spread over the country 
when this cruel massacre was announced. The army at 
Fredericksburg and at West Point were greatly exasperated 
and plans of revenge were discussed, as appears from letters 
written at the camp. The affair, while it seemed so very 
brutal, was also certainly very impolitic, as the killing of a 
few defenceless men in the night would hardly reward the 
enemy for the bitter hatred engendered in the hearts and 
openly expressed in the homes of the patriots. 

Congress, too, felt called upon to show their abhorrence 
of the act, which they did by a resolution October 6, 1778, 
"That Governor Livingston be requested to use his utmost 
diligence in obtaining the best information upon oath of 
the treatment of Colonel Baylor and his party by the 
enemy." 

Major General Lord Stirling directed Dr. David Griffith, 
of Colonel George Weedon's Third Virginia Regiment, then 
on duty as Surgeon and Chaplain of Brigadier General 
William Woodford's Brigade, Continental line, who at- 
tended Colonel Baylor and his wounded men, and who was 
the same officer who appeared at Washington's quarters the 
night before the battle of Monmouth, and it is said gave 
him such valuable secret information, to collect all the evi- 
dence in his power and aid Governor Livingston in the 
search for the truth of this barbarit}'. This was done, and 
the statement of the facts in the case was fully obtained 
and published to the world. The affair served to increase 
the bitterness felt by the Continental soldier at this brutal 
sacrifice of the lives of his comrades, and the massacre near 
Old Tappan added much to that feeling of hatred of the 
British foe which for at least two generations thereafter was 
felt by American patriots. 

LofC. 



12 The Massacre near Old Tappan. 

RETURN OF OFFICERS 

OF THE 

Third Regiment Light Dragoons, 

CONTINENTAL ARMY, 

September i8, 1778. 



George Baylor, - - - Colonel, 

, ... - Lieutentant Colonel. 

Alexander Clough, - - Major. 

Robert Morrow, - - Adjutant, 

George Evans, - - - Surgeon, 

Thomas Evans, - - - Surgeon's Mate. 
William Parsons, - - - Paymaster. 

Benjamin Hart, - - - Quarter Master. 

George Lewis, - Captain. John Swan, - - Captain. 
Robert Smith, - - " Churchill Jones, - 

Cadwalader Jones, " Carter Page, - - " 

John Stith, - Lieutenant. Walker Baylor, Lieutenant. 
John Baylor, - " Hill Carter, - - 

Robert Randolph, " William Barret, " 

William Parsons, - Cornet. Perigrine Fitzhugh, Cornet. 

Chiswell Barret, - - " Francis Dade, - - " 

Robert Morrow, - " Benjamin Hart, - " 

Prestly Thornton, - " Edward Conner, - - " 

Baldwin Dade, - - Cadet. John Kelly, - - - Cadet. 



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